


The Mischief-Makers

by breakaway71



Category: Men's Hockey RPF, Supernatural
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24491044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breakaway71/pseuds/breakaway71
Summary: In all his years playing the role of a trickster, Gabriel has never taken a protégé.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 43





	The Mischief-Makers

**Author's Note:**

> While going through my overflowing WIP folder, I happened across this old document of warm-up ficlets. All of it was random nonsense, and most wasn't worth sharing at all, but I kind of liked this little tidbit and decided, hell with it, maybe someone else will as well.
> 
> This takes place before the Vegas expansion happened. Flower is a Penguin. I will hear no complaints.

Gabriel likes ice hockey. It's not something he admits out loud, of course – it's a human sport, and he's meant to be above such things, even when playing the part of a Pagan deity.

But hockey, man, it's _fun_. It's fast and brutal and exciting, and it inspires such delightful passion. He's followed the sport for over a century, and finds that he always has a soft spot for certain players. The pranksters, of course, the ones that bring laughter to their locker rooms, bringing a team together until they start to feel like brothers.

There are always a few around the various leagues, and Gabriel always takes them under an invisible wing, can’t help watching out for them and making sure the hits they take don't do too much damage, but he finds that Marc-Andre Fleury is a special case. For one thing, Fleury's pranks are downright ingenious; most pranksters in hockey stick to the basics, the tried and true jokes that have been done a thousand times, but Fleury always manages to surprise him. For another thing, the sheer delight he takes in playing these tricks is something truly wondrous to behold. His team loves him, would almost literally die to protect him, and he would do the same for them. But that doesn't stop him from his shenanigans. In fact, the teammates he feels the most for usually get pranked the worst.

It makes Gabriel's lips curl in delight, because he recognizes it. Sees bits of _himself_ in the player called The Flower.

Gabriel has never taken a protégé in all his years on earth, but he knows other tricksters that have. Coyote, for one, and Anansi, though he's a lot more low-key about it. But Gabriel, playing the part of Loki for so long, has never seen the need or felt the desire.

Fleury changes that, though. Because as amazing as he is, as amusing as his pranks are, they could be _better_. Gabriel could teach him so many things. And with little Estelle Fleury shaping up to take after her father, he could be responsible for starting a _legacy_.

It's a heady thought.

He thinks about it for a few weeks, but that's more to ponder the _how_ than the _if_. Gabriel knows that once he has his mind set on something, he rarely changes it. What would be the point?

On a blustery day in February, he walks into the Penguins' practice rink, whistling a merry tune. Fleury, he knows, is alone right now, prefers gearing up in the quiet stillness, and likes getting there before anyone else for other reasons as well.

Gabriel catches him in the act of tying Malkin's jersey sleeves, and snickers. Fleury whirls around.

"Who are you?" he demands, his French-Canadian accent thickening with his surprise. His eyes are narrowed.

Gabriel smirks. "Someone who can teach you to do that better." He raises an eyebrow at the clumsily tied jersey sleeves, which look too obvious to fool the big Russian player Fleury is trying to prank. "If you want to learn."

Fleury stares suspiciously at him for a long moment, but maybe he recognizes something within Gabriel just as easily as Gabriel recognized something in _him_ , because his eyes glitter and the corners of his mouth curl up. "Oh? Well. Teach me, then."


End file.
